It’s Not You, It’s Me

Author:

Dylan Boyd

Source:

Over the years we have seen email marketing change from being a one to all to a one to one medium. Much of this has been not only pushed by the growth in the tools available that email marketers use, but in the tactics and knowledge we apply to bringing communications down to a one to one basis. Now although we would love to see more people using email in this fashion, as it would lift engagement, drive relevant campaigns, and allow people to get emails that they want from companies and brands… the problem always lies in the data.
 
Now I would state that the challenge does not lie entirely on the tools we use, but in the time that we invest in reading and making decisions based on the data we get back from the campaigns. Communication being taken down to a one to one basis does not rely on the subscriber, they expect it, but it comes down to the marketer doing their job of using what they know.
 
There are a few things I suggest that you spend some time on in the coming months.
 
1. The opt in: What are you asking for? An email or a combination of fields?
With simply asking for an email address you are only starting to building a program on a one to many approach. You have very little data to start your intelligent campaigns with so you have placed yourself in a spot that requires you to rely on learning over time, looking at data that may be siloed in web analytics, social data, purchase history, or even offline data collection points. Getting all of these data sources together is a process in itself that will keep you and your teams (if you have a team) tied up constantly in an effort to pull it together in order to get a true picture.
 
The solution: Many people feel that an email is a safe way to start an opt in and a relationship. So if this is you and you are going to take this approach, look at these techniques....